Chapter 13, Verse 16
बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च | सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् ||१३-१६||
bahirantaśca bhūtānāmacaraṃ carameva ca . sūkṣmatvāttadavijñeyaṃ dūrasthaṃ cāntike ca tat ||13-16||
Meaning
13.16 Without and within (all) beings the unmoving and also the moving; because of Its subtlety, unknowable; and near and far away is That.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna deepens the paradoxes to dissolve our spatial assumptions about the Divine. The Absolute is outside all beings and within them; it appears as the unmoving (the stable, like mountains and stones) and as the moving (the living and changing). It is so subtle that the ordinary mind cannot grasp it, for the mind is built to know gross objects, while Brahman is the very subtlety underlying them.
Most beautiful is the final paradox: it is far away and yet near (durastham cantike ca). To the heart turned outward and forgetful, the Divine seems infinitely distant, beyond reach. To the one who turns within in awareness, it is nearer than one's own breath, the immediate ground of being. Distance here is not measured in space but in attention. Brahman never moves; it is we who, by forgetting or remembering, experience it as remote or intimate. The whole spiritual journey is simply waking up to a presence that was never actually absent.
💡 Key Takeaway
The Divine is not far off in some distant place — it is nearer than your breath the moment you turn within.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | इदं शरीरं कौन्तेय क्षेत्रमित्यभिधीयते | एतद्यो वेत्ति तं प्राहुः क्षेत्रज्ञ इति तद्विदः ||१३-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . idaṃ śarīraṃ kaunteya kṣetramityabhidhīyate . etadyo vetti taṃ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ ||13-2||
13.2 The Blessed Lord said This body, O Arjuna, is called the field; he who knows it is called the knower of the field, by those who know of them.
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वामृतमश्नुते | अनादिमत्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तन्नासदुच्यते ||१३-१३||
jñeyaṃ yattatpravakṣyāmi yajjñātvāmṛtamaśnute . anādi matparaṃ brahma na sattannāsaducyate ||13-13||
13.13 I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, the beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.
सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत्सर्वतोऽक्षिशिरोमुखम् | सर्वतः श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वमावृत्य तिष्ठति ||१३-१४||
sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tatsarvato.akṣiśiromukham . sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati ||13-14||
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the worlds enveloping all.